4 Reminders for When Your Bathroom Scale Gets the Best of You
It can be so easy to get obsessed with the numbers on your bathroom scale and hop on/hop off every day or sometimes multiple times a day. You might be telling yourself that it’s “just to check in” but let’s look at your motivation a bit more closely:
If the number on the scale is higher than yesterday, do you have a bad day? End up picking yourself apart and vow to restrict what you eat?
Are you stepping on the scale more than once a day? Do you have set ‘rules’ for when you weigh yourself (for example, must be after using the washroom, must be without clothing, etc.)?
If you find yourself letting the number on the scale dictate your mood and actions, here are four reminders you need to hear. Feel free to print these out to read them when you need to, or even tape them on your bathroom mirror!
- It is normal for your weight to fluctuate during the day depending on what you’ve had to eat, drink, or if you’ve had a bowel movement. And if you’re a woman, you can expect your weight to go up and down throughout your menstrual cycle. These are all normal body functions that you can’t control for… but the scale will still reflect!
- Your body is not a calculator (no matter how much you’ve heard it’s calories in versus calories out)! If you’ve ever gone on a restrictive diet, you’ll know the feeling that comes with doing everything ‘right’ only to have the scale not move, or worse: the number goes up.
- Body diversity is a real thing! Even if we all ate and moved the same way, we would all still physically look different. The scale can’t tell you anything about your health—not your bone density, heart health, or muscle mass. The scale doesn’t show you anything other than your weight in that exact moment.
- And with that in mind, the scale doesn’t show who you are as a person. It can’t reflect your great sense of humour, how kind you are to others, or any of your talents! Don’t let the number you see take away all the great things you are and do.
It’s time to get clear on how weighing yourself is serving you. If it sends you into a negative spiral, it may be worth putting the scale away for a while. You can’t shame yourself into losing weight, so if the scale is messing with your mental health, give it up. That can be scary, but it can also be really freeing! Try shifting your focus to how your body feels after eating certain foods or a new workout class.
💛 Your peace awaits.
